Capacitors are prevalent throughout a variety of electrical devices and systems due to their ability to store voltage potential. Capacitors possess this capability due to a dielectric material contained between two terminals of the capacitor. The amount of voltage potential a capacitor can store effectively is based on the type of dielectric material within the capacitor. A dielectric material may be associated with a breakdown voltage, or a maximum voltage level at which the dielectric material can operate efficiently. Once a capacitor begins to operate at a voltage higher equal to or higher than the breakdown voltage level of the dielectric material, the capacitor may begin to operate out of specification. A capacitor operating out of specification may cause an electrical device or system that it is installed in to fail to operate.
Unfortunately, current systems and techniques for detecting whether the dielectric material of a capacitor is beginning to breakdown are either inefficient or not possible. In the manufacturing environment, each capacitor may require to be individually tested prior to installation in electrical devices or systems. Such a testing methodology is oftentimes too expensive. Further, once a capacitor is installed in an electronic device or system, it is difficult to determine when and if the capacitor is beginning to operate out of specification. For at least these reasons, there is a need for identifying when a capacitor is operating out of specification efficiently in a testing environment or deployed in electrical devices and systems.